To pledge allegiance. To pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Madam Clerk, please call the roll. Trustee Estrada Volpe. Here. Trustee Zavagevich. Here. Trustee Conte. Here. Trustee Sargent. Here. Trustee Kaminsky. Here. Trustee Lolino. Here. President Saviano. Here. Recognition. Our first order of business. President Saviano, you're going to be administering the oath of office to our newly promoted Sergeant Steven Messina. Sergeant Messina has been with the Elmwood Park Police Department since 2013. Chief Andy Hock is going to come up and say a few words real quick. Could you try again? Sorry. uh... the first thing i want to say is to me it's a special honor uh... for thirty five years my entire career i've known steve messina i knew him since like most people here on this board knew him when he was a little a little kid hanging around with his dad going to different events with the village the motorcycle right the village police motorcycle but for me to be here today personally uh... it really It means a lot to me and I know it means a lot to everybody here. On behalf of the entire Elmwood Park Police Department, I extend a heartfelt congratulations to Steven Messina for his promotion to Sergeant. Sergeant Messina began his career at the Elmwood Park Police Department on October 7th, 2013. Sergeant Messina is the first third generation officer in the Elmwood Park Police Department. Was that his? Please tell me it wasn't his. We've got to reevaluate this whole thing. But what I was saying is he is. He's the first third-generation officer in the Elmwood Park Police Department, following in the footsteps of his family's strong tradition in law enforcement here in Elmwood Park. Steve's grandfather, Carlo Messina, retired as a captain. His father, Steve Messina... a retired administrative commander, and his uncle Sam Messina served as a patrolman. Sergeant Messina has been assigned an array of duties in our police department, which have included problem-oriented policing officer in the criminal investigations division. He was a field training officer and an evidence technician. Sergeant Messina has demonstrated proven leadership skills in our department through his 11 years of dedicated service. This promotion is a testament to Sergeant Messina and his unwavering commitment to excellence. Stephen, Stefan, I should say, possesses the qualities we value most in our leaders. I am confident that he will continue to serve our community with distinction and make a positive impact on the lives of those we serve. I congratulate the newly promoted Sergeant and his family for this well-deserved achievement. As a dedicated professional, he has worked hard for this promotion, and I personally couldn't be more proud of him. Congratulations, Steve. I didn't really prepare anything. Thanks to the mayor, village manager, board, 11 years. I've lived here for 43 years now. I'll do my best for the village, all the people, thanks to my family. And that's it. I'm actually at a loss for words. It's surprising for me. Thank you. It means a lot. Okay, we'll move on to public comment. Is there any public comment tonight? Yes, sir. Come around here. My name is Ed Hartnett. I live in the 2700 block of 76th Court. And along with several of my neighbors, not once but twice in the month of July, we had water backing up in our basement. I called and I have a flood control. I had my wheel closed. I had my basement drain plugged. There was so much water pressure that it was coming up through the sump pump on a bolted down steel top. There was so much pressure coming in. The second time my wife saw it coming up the floor drain in about a six inch fountain. of muck and dirt and smell. I called the village to ask, because it acts just like somebody put a bathtub stopper in, and then, oh, just kidding, and then pull the stopper out and the water goes whoosh, right down, or a valve not being open. So I called the village and asked, and obviously I knew we had had a lot of rain, but the thing that disturbed me the most from the gentleman, very nice gentleman from the water department who called me back, was that he said, oh, in the area you're in, the storm sewer and the sanitary sewer are combined, which means that storm water is always going to overload the sanitary sewer. And that is my concern. We'll take a look at it. Now, do you have a stop? I have a wheel on the floor. A valve. A valve. It turns like an old piano stool. You turn it and the gate goes down across the pipe. My pump was going that pumps around. I have a stopper that I can put in the floor drain to keep water from coming up there. It's not often, but I thought twice in one month was a bit much. We'll take a look at that. When we did the flood mitigation program, Amy, Oh, I remember that, and thankfully I had nothing like those poor people did over on 75th. Yeah. We went along with water rec and all our engineering, but I realize there are some areas, very few areas left in the town that have a combined sewer. But we'll take a look at that. We'll get a hold of you. We'll get your phone number, and we'll come out and take a look at it. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Madam Clerk, do you have a report? The only thing I have, I just want to mention that next month, September, it's already Labor Day, so our meeting will not be on the first Monday. It will be September 8th, which will be the second Monday of the month. So again, no meeting on that first Monday. September 8th will be our next meeting. That's all. Nothing to report, President Saviano. Mr. President, on September 21st, the Plan, Zoning, and Development Commission met here. They had... July. July, sorry. And they heard... YOU KNOW, THREE SPECIAL USE HEARINGS AND ONE PETITION FOR A MAP AMENDMENT. UH-OH. WHAT HAPPENED? AT THAT TIME, SO... AT THE A.C. AGAIN? IT COULD BE A CONDENSATION DRAIN, POSSIBLY. AND THEY MADE THE UNANIMOUS... THANK YOU. WE HAD TO BRING UP WATER. AND THEY MADE UNANIMOUS RECOMMENDATION TO CARRY FORWARD WITH THE THREE SPECIAL USES AND THE MAP AMENDMENT TO CREATE ADDITIONAL PARKING BOTH ON COLLERTON AVENUE FOR OUR MUNICIPAL BUILDINGS AS WELL AS ON NORTH AVENUE ALONG RESTAURANT ROW. THANK YOU, MR. PRESIDENT. DISTRICT 401, BELIEVE IT OR NOT, SCHOOL STARTS AUGUST 20th. BEFORE THAT, WE'RE GOING TO HAVE SOME SPORTING EVENTS THAT HAVE STARTED AND SOME ORIENTATIONS, SO JUST BE MINDFUL OF THE KIDS OUT THERE. SPEAKING OF THE KIDS, A SHOUT-OUT TO CHIEF HOCK FOR NATIONAL NIGHT OUT. IT WAS REALLY A NICE EVENT. IT WAS NICE TO SEE THE OFFICERS INTERACT WITH THE COMMUNITY ON A MORE RELAXED LEVEL. SO THAT WAS VERY NICE. THANK YOU TO THE POLICE DEPARTMENT. RELAY FOR LIFE IS SEPTEMBER 12TH. IF YOU'RE INTERESTED, PLEASE CONTACT ME. THEY'RE STILL LOOKING FOR TEAMS TO WALK TO BENEFIT CANCER. Anything from the assessor's office? We do have from the assessor's office. Unfortunately, we've all been reassessed. It's a reassessment year. If you're interested in appealing your residential assessment, please contact the township assessor's office, and we'll be happy to help you with that. No report, Mr. President. Mr. President, the Finance Committee met this evening at 5.30 p.m., reviewed the bills and vouchers for the month of July. and unanimously recommended same for approval by the full board tonight. Thank you. Mr. President, I trust everyone is excited about our 40th anniversary Taste of Elmwood Park this coming weekend at Central Park. We have a great entertainment lineup this year across all four days. And as always, we will feature Elmwood Park's finest restaurants, including some great newcomers. This will also be our largest selection to date. The Taste Lounge will also make a return with live DJs nightly, along with our ever so popular Mayor's Cup bocce tournament, and not to mention our meatball eating contest. I just want to send a big thank you to everyone involved in getting us to opening day. It takes a ton of effort, so thank you all. Looking forward to a great weekend. Thank you. Durkin? Yes, first off, I'd like to congratulate whom I'm going to call Stevie, since I've known him since he was in kindergarten and was a carpool with my son. But I also had the pleasure of working with your grandfather when I was a prosecutor and he was the courtroom captain. And, of course, your dad and I go back a long time, but couldn't happen to a more deserving candidate. And... I'm happy that you also live within the village of Elmwood Park. So, with respect to business, following up on what Trustee Zavaznovic stated, there are three ordinances on the agenda regarding public parking and municipal lot parking. One ordinance for the property on Fullerton Avenue is only for municipally owned vehicles. The property at 1612 North 77th Avenue requires a rezoning, and so that's part of that ordinance. That lot and the lot on 73rd Avenue will be for public parking, which are adjacent. Those lots are adjacent to the alleyway. And lastly, I want to state that I had nothing to do with the preparation of item E under the new business agenda. And you'll know when you get there. Mr. Volpe. Mr. President, the Board will consider the purchase of two Bobcat gas utility vehicles tonight. These utility vehicles will be used by the Public Works Department throughout the year to haul material and apply fertilizer, weed control, clear snow, apply mulch, etc. THEY'LL ALSO BE USED BY THE PARKS AND REC DEPARTMENT DURING SPECIAL EVENTS TO TRANSPORT BOTH PEOPLE AND SUPPLIES. EACH UTILITY VEHICLE COSTS $18,533.07. THE BOARD WILL CONSIDER A LICENSE AGREEMENT THAT WILL ALLOW FOR THE INSTALLATION AND MAINTENANCE OF A MONUMENT SIGN IN THE CONTI PARKWAY RIGHT-OF-WAY. THE SIGN WILL ADVERTISE THE NEW POMPEI RESTAURANT. THE BOARD WILL CONSIDER AN AGREEMENT RELATED TO THE GRANT AWARD FOR THE GRAND AVENUE GATEWAY PROJECT FROM THE FEDERAL RAILROAD ADMINISTRATION. The agreement will be executed by the village and METRA, and it will ensure compliance with certain FRA requirements governing the grant funding for the project. As you know, the village recently received a grant to replace its self-contained breathing apparatus used by the fire department with new modern units. The old units cannot be used any longer by our department, and so the board will be asked to approve our donation of the old equipment to a smaller downstate fire department that can, in fact, use that equipment. And lastly, the board will consider three agreements to procure natural gas and electricity. These agreements are recommended by the village's energy consultant, Navigate Power. The first is with Santana Energy Services, and it has a term of 36 months, and it provides for the purchase of natural gas at a fixed rate of $0.5920 per therm. The other two agreements cover electricity supply for the 16 village accounts. These agreements are with NRG. BUSINESS MARKETING, LLC, AND DIRECT ENERGY BUSINESS, LLC. THE FIRST METER READ DATE UNDER BOTH AGREEMENTS IS DECEMBER 1, 2025, AND THE AGREEMENTS CONTINUE FOR 36 MONTHS. OKAY. I HAVE NO REPORT. WE'LL MOVE ON TO CONSENT AGENDA. OKAY. THIS EVENING ON THE CONSENT AGENDA, WE HAVE APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE PRESIDENT AND BOARD OF TRUSTEES HELD ON JULY 7, 2025. APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES OF A SPECIAL MEETING OF THE PRESIDENT AND BOARD OF TRUSTEES HELD ON JULY 7, 2025. APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES OF A PLAN ZONING AND DEVELOPMENT PUBLIC HEARING HELD JULY 21, 2025. RECEIVE AND FILE MINUTES OF THE FINANCE COMMITTEE MEETING HELD JUNE 5, 2025. RECEIVE AND FILE MINUTES OF THE PLAN ZONING AND DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION MEETING HELD FEBRUARY 24, 2025. RECEIVE AND FILE MINUTES OF THE TRAFFIC AND SAFETY COMMISSION MEETING HELD JULY 15, 2025. A motion to approve payment of the bills and vouchers for the month of July 2025 in the amount of $3,330,693.31. Various license applications received and processed by the Village Clerk's Office. A resolution authorizing the execution by the Village of Elmwood Park, Illinois of an agreement pursuant to Section 22905C1 of Part B of Subtitle 5. of Chapter 229 of Title 49 of the United States Code for the Grand Avenue Gateway Project, a resolution regarding the need for confidentiality of closed session minutes, an ordinance authorizing the acceptance of two proposals from Atlas Bobcat for the purchase of two utility vehicles, an ordinance authorizing the sale or disposal of personal property owned by the Village of Elmwood Park, a resolution authorizing the execution of a license agreement between the Village of Elmwood Park and Ralph DeVino Enterprises, Inc., an ordinance authorizing the execution of an agreement between the Village of Elmwood Park and Santana Energy Services, and an ordinance authorizing the execution of two commodity master agreements between Direct Energy Business LLC and NRG Business Marketing LLC and the Village of Elmwood Park. We have a motion. So moved, Mr. President. I'll second. Any discussion? Seeing none, Madam Clerk, please call the roll. Trustee Estrada-Volpe? Yes. Trustee Zavagevic? Yes. Trustee Conte? Yes. Trustee Sargent? Yes. Trustee Kavinsky? Yes. Trustee Lolino? Yes. President Saviano? Yes. Okay, communications. First one, we're asked to approve a proclamation for National Payroll Week for the week of September 1st, 2025 by Aaron Moran, President of the Chicago Chapter of Payroll Org. Motion approved, Mr. President. Second. All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? The ayes have it. Second, we have a recommendation to approve special use permits and map amendments submitted by the Village of Elmwood Park, submitted by Marissa Macchione, Secretary of the PZD Committee. Motion to receive and file, Mr. President. All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? The ayes have it. And lastly, a recommendation for a new stop sign submitted by Mike Kirsch, Chairman of the Traffic and Safety Committee. I'll make a motion. I'll second. All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? You guys have it. There being no old business, we'll move on to new business. First item we have is an ordinance granting a special use permit for the construction of a governmental use parking lot upon the village-owned property located at 7415-7417 West Fullerton Avenue. Motion to approve, Mr. President. I'll second. Madam, please call the roll. Trustee Estrada-Volpe? Yes. Trustee Zavaznovic? Yes. Trustee Conte? Yes. Trustee Sargent? Yes. Trustee Kaminsky? Yes. Trustee Lolino? Yes. President Saviano? Yes. Next we have an ordinance granting a special use permit for the construction of a governmental use public parking lot upon the village owned property located at 1613 North 73rd Avenue. Motion to approve. I'll second. Middle clerk, please call the roll. Trustee Estrada-Volpe? Yes. Trustee Zavaznovic? Yes. Trustee Conte? Yes. Trustee Sargent? Yes. Trustee Kaminsky? Yes. Trustee Lolino? Yes. President Saviano? Yes. We have an ordinance to approve a map amendment rezoning the village-owned property located at 1612 North 77th Avenue to B2 General Business District and granting a special use permit for the construction of a public parking lot at said location. Motion approved, Mr. President. Second. Madam Clerk, please call the roll. Trustee Estrada-Volpe? Yes. Trustee Zavaznovic? Yes. Trustee Conte? Yes. Trustee Sargent? Yes. Trustee Kaminsky? Yes. President Saviano? Oh, sorry, Trustee Lolino. Sorry. A motion to approve a recommendation from the Traffic and Safety Commission to install a stop sign on 74th Avenue at Wrightwood on the west side of 74th Avenue. I'll make a motion. Second. All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? The ayes have it. Hey, here's your day. We're going to read the resolution. Yes. We'll read it first before we vote. A resolution honoring Michael K. Durkin. Recognizing the induction of Michael K. Durkin into the University of Illinois Division of Intercollegiate Athletics Hall of Fame 2025. Whereas Michael Kevin Durkin was born to Jack and Mary Durkin on April 14, 1953, along with his siblings John, Kay, and Barb, And whereas at a young age, Michael demonstrated a resilient athletic ability and a strength to run long distances. And whereas after graduating from Holy Cross High School, Michael attended the University of Illinois, where he received his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1975, while continuing to develop his athletic talents, competing and winning nine Big Ten championships for the University of Illinois, while also earning All-American honors in cross-country, bringing both prestige and recognition to the university. And whereas in 1976, he accomplished what most can only dream of, when Michael proudly qualified to compete in the 1976 Summer Olympics in the 1500-meter run. And whereas after college graduation, Michael attended Chicago-Kent College of Law, where he graduated with honors in 1978. And whereas Michael would once again exemplify the highest of standards in athletic excellence when he qualified to participate in the 1980 Olympic Games. However, unable to participate due to a boycott enacted by the United States, banning participation in the Olympics in Moscow. And whereas Michael Durkin holds a distinguished record of personal bests, 800 meters, one minute, 47 seconds, 47.68 seconds in 1980. The 1500 meter, three minutes, am I reading that right? Three minutes, 36.72 seconds in 1976. This is the one that really gets me. The mile, in three minutes and 56.7 seconds in 1975. The two-mile in eight minutes, 39.3 seconds in 1974, and the 3,000 S? Steeplechase. Oh, the 3,000 steeplechase, eight minutes and 53 seconds in 1975. Whereas Michael Durkin, attorney at law, began his career in law practicing in multiple fields, but focused on becoming proficient in the field of municipal law. And whereas Michael Durkin became a founding partner of the firms Storino, Romello, and Durkin, currently serving as the village attorney for the village of Elmwood Park and Burr Ridge. He also serves as the township attorney for the township of Proviso and provides counsel to various other municipalities. And whereas Michael is married to his lovely wife, Joni, and have three sons, Michael married to Melissa, Peter married to Carol, and Adam married to Mandy, and is blessed with five beautiful grandchildren. Now, therefore, be it resolved by Village President Angelo Skip Saviano and the Board of Trustees as we hereby honor Michael K. Durkin on the induction into the University of Illinois Division of Intercollegiate Athletics Hall of Fame, Class of 2025, a well-deserved honor for a great athlete and an honorable man with an enduring legacy. Thank you. I'm embarrassed. I didn't find out about this until like 3.30 this afternoon. Somebody with a big mouth, Steve, told me at physical therapy that this was on the agenda. I would have read the agenda anyway and later did and saw it on there. But I'm humbled by this and the village board recognizing this. I will say one thing, I graduated 50 years ago and when this was announced, I've been getting calls from my teammates, from my competitors, my friends, what took so long? And I just have to answer the question so I don't have to answer it more than once. Illinois started their Hall of Fame in 2017. So this is the ninth class. The first class, they inducted people like Red Grange, Dick Butkus, people of that caliber. So it took me 50 years. It took Red Grange 93 and Dick Butkus 54. I feel that I was prematurely inducted, even though it's 50 years after the fact, so at least I'm alive for it. That's it. Thank you. You've got to take a vote. Yes. Anybody have a motion to approve the resolution? I'll second. Okay, all in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Okay, there we go. Guys have it. It was unanimous? Yeah. Seven to zero. By acclamation. I thought there would be at least two no votes. We have a motion to adjourn. So moved, Mr. President. I'll second. All in favor say aye. Aye. We'll see you at the Taste. Guys have it. Meeting's adjourned. Yay. Very good.